Title: Defence, Pretence, Offence - Chapter 72 - ConfrontationAuthor: Beren (aka Tasha)Pairing: Harry/DracoRating: NC-17 Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.Warnings: This story is canon compliant until the end of Order of the Phoenix and then goes AU. None of the HBP or Deathly Hallows plot will be used, or the Horcruxes for that matter since this story was planned before we knew the details about those things, and hence has it's own fanon. This includes birthdays and other information that have since been revealed on Pottermore and in further productions.Summary: The threat of open war in on the horizon. The Order and the Ministry are of one accord and both know that where Harry Potter is, Voldemort will eventually be. Preparations are being made and this time the side of the light will not be caught unawares.Summer classes, sabotage, revelations about Draco's father, teaching and the final showdown with Voldemort all await Harry and Draco in this exciting sequel to Gold Tinted Spectacles (LJ | AO3 | Wattpad).Author's Notes: This is the second story in the Hecatemae universe. It starts up just after the end of the first instalment and I advice reading that one first so you understand the premise. Thanks go to my sister Sophie for the beta reading.It has taken me 12 years to finally get around to finishing this, I very much hope everyone enjoys it.Link to other parts:LJ | DW | AO3 | Wattpad

Harry stumbled out of the trees, wand clasped in his hand and blood dripping down the side of his face from the cut above his eye.

"Expelleramus," came from the side and he ducked and rolled, sending a blasting curse back at the caster.

There was a satisfying grunt from that direction. Scrambling to his feet he went to run, but a severing charm glanced off the back of his right leg, causing it to go out from under him. Only a quick Protego saved him from a second one.

"Enough!"

That voice was enough to send cold shots of fear down Harry's spine, even though he had been expecting it. Gripping his wand tightly he forced himself back to his feet, despite the pain in his now bleeding leg. After all defiance was kind of his trademark. Breathing hard he glared at Voldemort across the other side of the clearing.

The irony of this being the same place where he had brought Sirius back from the dead did not escape him.

"Harry, is that any way to greet old friends?" Voldemort asked, smiling at him from the hideously disfigured face.

"No one here is my friend, Tom," Harry spat back.

Even the use of his real name didn't wipe the smile from Voldemort's face this time. Clearly the madman thought everything was going his way and it had put him in a very good mood.

"Your continued defiance of me has been troublesome this last year," Voldemort said, tone almost conversational, "but I think we both know it is over now."

Harry sent a nervous glance around the ring of Death Eaters surrounding him. There were six robed figures, not including their Dark Lord himself and all had their wands trained on him.

"Oh Harry, every time we meet you are such a source of entertainment."

"Every time we meet you lose," he said.

That did cause the smile to slip slightly on the serpent like features.

"As much as it pains me to do so," Voldemort said, "I am here to offer you one last chance. Things have changed so much since we last met. Join me and we can put all this nastiness behind us. You could be a most valuable ally."

That really did shock Harry and, if the way some of the wands pointing at him moved, he wasn't the only one.

"You want me on your side?" Harry did not have to fake that reaction at all. "But you had Lucius Malfoy try and kill me."

"And yet again you proved you are stronger than my underlings," Voldemort said, rolling his own wand between his fingers. "I will admit I was impressed, and I was doubly so when I heard what you achieved with your godfather. If you join me I will promise you your life, the life of your soulmate, the life of your godfather and even his wolf. I do not believe in wasting high magic and you are unique. Speaking of which, where is Draco Malfoy?"

"Not here," Harry said vehemently.

"I know he is in this forest," Voldemort said, "it is only a matter of time before we find him."

With a nod from their lord, two of the robed figures disappeared into the trees.

"Harry, we both know you cannot duel me and hope to win," Voldemort continued.

"Afraid of what happened last time?" Harry challenged.

That caused another hissing laugh to escape the madman.

"I have it on good authority that, that is most unlikely," Voldemort said, pointing his own wand at Harry's. "I know what has happened since you raised your godfather from the veil, Harry."

Harry frowned, staring down at his wand and then back at Voldemort.

"Yes, Harry," his enemy said, "I know that you hold in your hand a very good imitation of your original wand, but that is not it."

Harry let the fear show on the outside.

"How?" he demanded.

Voldemort nodded at one of the other robed figures. Reaching up, the robed man pushed his hood back and removed the silver mask he was wearing.

"Traitor," Harry hissed and sent at well aimed Crucio at his former professor.

The spell bounced harmlessly off a shield that Voldemort himself cast in front of Snape.

"Now, now, Harry, don't make me hurt you," Voldemort said.

Harry rounded on the man, face full of fury.

"You're a coward," he all but screamed, "a half-blood coward who should have died a long time ago."

He brought up his wand and of course Voldemort mirrored his actions. At the same time Voldemort said, "Stupefy," Harry cast a shield charm. The two met almost instantly and he felt the familiar electric charge in his hand, causing his fingers to seize as like wand found like wand.

"What?" he heard from Voldemort.

"We lied," Harry snarled through gritted teeth.

The he let free the wild magic he had been gathering since he stepped into the Forbidden Forest, forcing some of it down the connection of deep gold between their wands.

"Interrumpo Catena," he hissed as the wild power forced its way to Voldemort's wand.

The sheer energy made his nerves sting and his mental barriers rattle as he usurped the resonance between the two phoenix feathers. This was not about subtlety, it was about raw power, and that was something Harry was very good at.

He saw Voldemort's eyes open in shock even as he heard someone start the words of the killing curse. He couldn't turn to see, he couldn't even defend himself, but he felt more magic flying around the clearing as he heard Snape's familiar tones. Nothing hit him, so he concentrated on his task.

"What have you done?" Voldemort hissed at him.

"Taken back lives," Harry said through clenched teeth; "it ends now."

Without giving Voldemort a chance to do anything, he pushed the rest of the wild magic into the connection between their wands and released it. The resonance made his whole body ache as he gave it more power. He could not control this, had no intention of doing so, and he let it free. Now more golden shafts split off from the main one, forming the golden cage Harry remembered from the Triwizard Tournament, effectively cutting them off from those surround them. Focusing his will, Harry pushed with everything he had and a gold ball of energy ripped along the line between his and Voldemort's wands.

For a moment he almost felt sorry for the creature before him. Voldemort looked so completely shocked and confused.

Ghostly wisps of silver flared out of the end of Voldemort's wand, but this time they did not form into people. They didn't form into anything as Voldemort's wand began to shake. From there the shaking moved into Voldemort's hand and the wisps of silver became tiny needles that shot towards the dark lord's skin.

For the first time Voldemort cried out in something other than anger as dark blood dripped from his lacerated hand. Harry could see his enemy desperately trying to release the wand, let it drop to the floor of the clearing, but Voldemort's fingers were as stuck as his own.

The skin on the lower part of Voldemort's arm undulated as the power wormed under his skin. It looked alive with some kind of creature as the wild magic writhed.

Silver like smoke gathered around Voldemort's wand, turning to needles bit by bit. As the first tendrils wormed their way deeper into the madman's body, so the needles flew further, chasing their brethren's path and demanding their own entry into the shell of a human being: first Voldemort's arm, then his shoulder, then his chest, then his face.

Where the needles touched, blood dribbled free, and Voldemort's mouth opened in a silent scream.

It was horrible.

Harry could feel the darkness in the magic turning back on its maker. It made him feel sick, as if things were crawling over his skin. At his core he wanted to stop this, put an end to the suffering he could see before him, but he knew if he did he would be finished. Voldemort had to die, the Prophecy said so and his inner Slytherin knew it was true. He was a soldier in a war he had never agreed to fight and this was the final stand.

Focusing his will and holding together his fraying nerves, he stood strong.

"Good bye, Tom," he whispered, staring his adversary in those lifeless eyes.

There was blood all over Voldemort's robes now and every inch of skin Harry could see was writhing. Then he felt it, the snap as the curse he had cast finally did its work.

[I'm here,] Draco's voice sounded in his head, grounding him.

His curse was done, Voldemort could not use his followers to survive this time, but Harry could not disengage. His wand was still caught in the deadly game and it took all his will to keep the dark magic attacking his adversary from flowing down the link between them. He had never imagined the power.

All the dark Tom Riddle had ever touched was consuming him alive and it wanted everything it could get its hands on. Harry kept pushing with the wild magic, using it and his shields to protect himself.

[I'm coming,] Draco told him.

[No,] Harry shot back, [stay safe, please stay safe.]

He could feel Draco's need to be with him, to help. The denial of his plea was right there, but Draco did not voice it.

[I love you,] was what Draco chose to say.

It was all Harry needed to fight on.

He dared not take his gaze away, even as Voldemort crumpled to his knees. Arms, almost skeletal now, reached out to Harry, begging, but there was nothing Harry could have done even if he had wanted to stop it. He could feel Voldemort dying so incredibly horribly, moment by moment, and he wished fervently he could have stopped the suffering, but not the goal. Harry had never imagined how his enemy would die and it was more terrible than anything he could have dreamed up.

[He brought this on himself,] Draco told him and he could feel his soulmate watching through his eyes.

This was one thing he did not want to share with Draco, but he had no will left to shut this away from his soulmate. What he had to do was terrible enough, doing it alone would have been so much worse.

The silent scream of Voldemort's agony was almost worse than if there had been sound. All Harry could hear was the bubble and sizzle and snapping and cracking and everything terrible that was happening to the man before him. Mercifully it could not go on forever.

Finally, what was left of the Dark Lord toppled forward and Harry felt his adversary's life wink out.

He did not anticipate the backlash that death caused. The magic that had been consuming Voldemort, that had been contained by his cursed body exploded.

It was too much for Harry's mental barriers as they shattered. His protections against the world died as Tom Riddle did and it was his turn to scream. Magic leapt at him from all directions and he couldn't do anything to stop it or control it. His wand fell uselessly to his side as everything dark hit him. It ripped at his clothes, at his skin and attacked the very core of his being. It found his own magic and for a second everything inside him stilled.